On March 13, 2016, I filed what I thought was a simple request for RCMP statistics on crime guns. On April 27, 2016, I received a response from the RCMP dated April 19, 2016 advising that the RCMP had ‘no records’ on crime gun statistics.
On May 14, 2016, I filed a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner. My complaint included information on crime guns I had gleaned from the RCMP website which I thought pretty well debunked the RCMP’s ‘no records’ response. I guess I was wrong.
On February 12, 2018, I received this update on my RCMP ‘NO RECORDS’ complaint from the Investigator in the Office of the Information Commissioner: “I have followed up repeatedly—including involving management. Most recently, I was told an analyst would be working on these the weekend of January 20-21, but despite following up afterward I still have not learned what progress (if any) was made then. Unfortunately, it continues to be very slow going with most of our RCMP refusal files. (i.e. missing records and exemptions complaints).” I guess the RCMP didn’t get the memo from the Prime Minister’s Office on how a new ‘open and transparent,’ ‘evidence-based’ government was now in charge.